13 Spar

It was currently night time and the mistress had stayed in one of the rooms meant for the knights. As befitting of her status, she must be given the best room this place could offer. Neolen organized the zombie army and lined them up at a corner.

Good thing their number didn't increase any more from the village, since he would be hard pressed to handle a great number of them in this cramped outpost.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered if the mistress intended to bring these guys tomorrow. Well, he just had to wait for that.

He left the zombies and headed towards one of the cabins where Heiness was sitting down staring at space. She must be in deep thought.

In contrast, the undead had no need to sleep, thus they could just do random stuff during the night or do nothing at all. The mistress was also the same, however, it would seem she needed some alone time. Perhaps the mistress needed solitude.

"Hey, Heiness, what's up?"

He casually said and it snapped her to reality. She straightened herself.

"Nothing…"

"Huh," he grabbed a chair and sat down next to Heiness. "That's an obvious lie, admit it."

"Yes… I cannot understand myself lately."

"I know what you're talking about," he sighed. "You can't keep doing this, Heiness."

"..." She lowered her head. "How do you do it, Neolen?"

"Do what?"

"To accept and carry out everything that is happening. Everything was just too sudden."

She looked at her own hands, as though she wanted to perceive what she was.

"Indeed, it was too sudden."

"So how?"

This was a hard question to answer. The two of them each had different personalities, and that determined most of how they reacted about everything.

"... Well, let's see… What about, you think about which side to take?"

"Which side to take?"

"If the mistress decided to wipe out humanity, for example. Which side will you pick? Humanity, or the mistress?"

"O-Of course the mistress!"

"Are you sure? Heiness, forgive me but that doesn't seem to be the case. You are hesitant, conflicted."

"... no… I'm."

"You cannot even carry a single order of executing the villagers."

"That's…" she lowered her head in shame.

"Heiness, only you can help yourself… pick a side and know what you will decide in the future when you choose a side."

"Then, you have decided."

"Of course, it's simpler. In life, I chose to fight for humanity. But now I have changed, I chose to fight for the mistress and carry out what is necessary, the feelings I get can easily be discarded."

Of course, it would be a different situation for Heiness.

"..."

"Heiness, we are not humans anymore. Besides, humans will not accept us... Also, valuing humans goes against our purpose."

"... Yes…"

She was still thinking about it.

"Haaaah, what about we spar for a moment?"

"Spar?"

It would be good to lift her spirit.

"Just plain swords. Besides, don't you wanna test out new forms?"

She lowered her head as she deliberated.

"... Alright."

Sparring was often how knights spend their free time. Not only would it improve their skills, but it was also a bonding, sparring was fun after all. Furthermore, it was a way to escape depressing thoughts since they would only be focused on one thing, that was the fight.

They carried their swords and headed to the front of the outpost where there was an open space and a bit distant from the cabin used by their mistress.

They unsheathed their swords and threw the scabbards at the side. They stood ten feet apart and took their stance. Meanwhile Neolen took out a coin in the color of silver. It was the currency used in the continent, the currency was called Ditia, originating from thousands of years ago when it was first used, named after one of the gods.

This particular coin had a number written in this world's writing equivalent to 100. A single coin which equaled 100 of 1 Ditia coin.

Neolen prepared to flick the coin as he gripped his sword.

He grinned towards Heiness.

"I'm sure to win, Heiness."

"Hehehe, let's see. I'm faster than you, after all."

Then he flicked the coin, sending it high up into the air. With a clinked, they began.

They fought almost seriously for a fair amount of time, but only to the point that they wouldn't damage each other. Despite the amount of movements they were doing, they didn't sweat nor tire, which was quite a blessing for them.

Who wouldn't like to be untiring?

And before long, one had finally had their blade touching the other's neck. Neolen grinned at his victory, his left forearm held out and blocked Heiness's sword, while his right hand extended and sword in hand almost pressing into her skin. Yes, armors were useful.

"I win, Heiness."

"Hehe, I almost got you."

"Yeah, your speed almost got me."

But, Neolen just had more experience in fighting than her.

"So, did you get a load off your system?" He said as they lowered and sheathed their swords.

Heiness nodded her head.

"Yes, my head has become clearer."

"Good good."

"Amazing!"

It was then they heard rapid gentle claps from the sidelines. The clapping was quiet enough to not disturb the peaceful night of the forest. There was only another person who could possibly clap around here.

The two of them immediately straightened their backs and turned towards the source of those claps.

"Mistress, we apologize that we have disturbed you."

Heiness was the one to quickly apologize.

Their mistress was their casually sitting down on a wooden chair with her legs pressed together like a proper young lady. She was charmingly smiling at them as though she truly enjoyed watching their activity.

They didn't even realize nor sense that she moved there. She was truly a fearsome person.

"No no," she shook her hand. "No need to be sorry, I was getting bored anyway. Undead cannot exactly sleep, so my sticking around a room was not working much for me. But your bout was quite enjoyable."

She appeared to be genuinely joyful about it.

"You are almost a match though. But I imagine the standard knight could no longer defeat you?"

"Standard, yes, but there are some impressive guys out there in the knight order, mistress," Neolen said.

"Is that so… you think they'll give you trouble?"

"I imagine so."

"Hm, interesting. But let's not worry about it for now."

She rose up from her chair and started walking towards them. Before anything else though, Heiness walked forward.

"Mistress, I have been thinking about my actions earlier and I… I will not —"

"Stop it."

She held out her hand to stop Heiness, with a shake of her head, she smiled at her.

"Heiness, I am not forcing you to make up your mind now. You were in a rush when you made your choice, but I want you to think carefully about it."

"Mistress…"

She looked surprisingly compassionate now.

"You need not rush, for the time will come when you finally have to make a clearer choice. You may have made a choice now, but its integrity is questionable when the time has come to act on it."

"..."

Heiness lowered her head. She was right. She may say that she would follow her mistress's bidding and do what must be done, but would she really do it? She will likely hesitate when it comes to it, that was what the mistress thought.

It was to be expected after how she was earlier. And Heiness thought that the mistress might be truly right about that.

"So, Heiness, prove to me that you have made your conviction through actions, not small, but significant ones. I'm sure it will come in the future."

The mistress certainly sounded convinced that that moment will come in the future. Heiness couldn't determine what her mistress could be thinking.

"So, you can calm yourself, and take your time, okay?" she said with kindness that it touched Heiness's still heart.

"I understand."

"Great."

With the mistress in front of them, she held out her hand and the next moment, a sword appeared in her hand. It was of simple design which lacked any extravagance that Heiness sword had nor Neolen's. But it had a bluish silvery blade.

"I am originally a magic caster, so I don't know how to properly use a sword. With the exception of simple swinging of course."

She casually waved and swung her sword in the air with one hand. She did it pretty easily as though she was not affected by the weight. One would be surprised to see a girl like her casually swing a sword like that with one hand.

However, she had way stronger physical strength than any human if she wanted to. And thus, lifting a sword was no trouble at all.

"And I'm intrigued by your swordmaships. That is why, I have something to ask, please teach me swordsmanship."

The two knights were surprised by their mistress's request. As a strong magic caster as she was now that she could kill them both with a single spell, there should be no need to learn the way of the sword since anyone was pretty much insignificant before her.

That said, this was their mistress's request, and she looked eager to learn. Thus, there was no need to refuse.

The two knights agreed.

"Excellent! This should be a perfect opportunity to spend our time together!"

Then they spent the night training the mistress with swordsmanship. But of course, this was just one night, and she would need more than that to even be considered an average swordsman — disregarding of course her physical strength.